Post subject: McCain's Foreign Policy: Disingenous and More of the SAME

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 10:07 pm

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[url=http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_laurence_080407_mccain_s_foreign_pol.htm]
McCain's Foreign Policy: Disingenous and More of the Same

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David S. Broder, in an April 3 opinion piece appearing in the Houston Chronicle titled “McCain’s ‘war’ speech sure sharpens the Iraq debate,” likened McCains’s address on foreign policy to Barack Obama’s speech on race relations. In at least one important element the comparison of the two speeches could not be less apt.

In his speech, McCain seemed to admit that past US Middle East policies had been counterproductive: “For decades in the greater Middle East, we had a strategy of relying on autocrats to provide order and stability. We relied on the Shah of Iran, the autocratic rulers of Egypt, the generals of Pakistan, the Saudi royal family, and even, for a time, on Saddam Hussein. In the late 1970s that strategy began to unravel.”

This is quite an admission. The US relied on Saddam, and other autocratic rulers? Such honesty is refreshing.

However, with respect to Iran, at least, the statement is highly disingenuous! The US did not just “rely” on the Shah of Iran; we actually put him in power in 1953 and then supported him with immense amounts of military aid and trained his secret police in techniques of torture and intimidation that allowed him to stay in power for many years.

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